Validation of the Hungarian version of Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale--cognitive subscale

• Published in: Orvosi hetilap Vol. 153; no. 12; p. 461
• Main Authors: Pákáski, Magdolna, Drótos, Gergely, Janka, Zoltán, Kálmán, János
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Hungarian
• Published: Hungary 25.03.2012
• Subjects: Alzheimer Disease - diagnosis; Alzheimer Disease - psychology; Cognition; Humans; Hungary; Language; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales - standards; Psychometrics; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Severity of Illness Index; Translations; Hungary
• ISSN: 0030-6002
• DOI: 10.1556/OH.2012.29332

The cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale is the most widely used test in the diagnostic and research work of Alzheimer's disease. The aim of this study was to validate and investigate reliability of the Hungarian version of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale in patients with Alzheimer's disease and healthy control subjects. sixty-six patients with mild and moderate Alzheimer's disease and 47 non-demented control subjects were recruited for the study. The cognitive status was established by the Hungarian version of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale and Mini Mental State Examination. Discriminative validity, the relation between age and education and Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale, and the sensitivity and specificity of the test were determined. Both the Mini Mental State Examination and the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale had significant potential in differentiating between patients with mild and moderate stages of Alzheimer's disease and control subjects. A very strong negative correlation was established between the scores of the Mini Mental State Examination and the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale in the Alzheimer's disease group. The Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale showed slightly negative relationship between education and cognitive performance, whereas a positive correlation between age and Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale scores was detected only in the control group. According to the analysis of the ROC curve, the values of sensitivity and specificity of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale were high. The Hungarian version of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale was found to be highly reliable and valid and, therefore, the application of this scale can be recommended for the establishment of the clinical stage and follow-up of patients with Alzheimer's disease. However, the current Hungarian version of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale is not sufficient; the list of words and linguistic elements should be selected according to the Hungarian standard in the future.